Happy Birthday Again, Severus
by persnicketyfics
Summary: A saccharine sweet followup to Happy Birthday Severus and in the same universe as A Father's Loves, Closeted Affections, and Avast Ye Scallywags


Severus was having the most wonderful lucid dream. It was mostly memory - his last birthday, in which his wife had affectionately dosed him with a cocktail of lust and endurance potions and proceeded to shag him into the mattress. It had been the most glorious day, followed by the most wonderful gift a man could ever hope to receive from his wife of five years.

He was roused from sleep by the shrill cry of said gift not thirty seconds later.

Hermione's hand shot out to thump him in the chest. "Your turn," she said, rolling over to stuff her head under her pillow.

With a grumble about stubborn Gryffindors and their refusal to employ house elves as nannies - even paid nannies! - he rolled out of bed and placed his feet on the cold flagstones with a little hiss of pain. They really needed to get some rugs to warm the floor. The bones in his feet, broken so many times during the war, simply couldn't take the cold anymore.

He padded into the nursery and reached into the crib to lift out his favorite gift. "Out you get, little man. What has you so upset this time of morning?" he murmured, keeping his voice low enough that it wouldn't reawaken Hermione through the monitoring charm. He patted his hand on Tav's - short for Octavius - bottom and found it dry. "Are you hungry?"

The baby, just seven months old, looked at him owlishly before letting out a squawk and flailing his tiny arms in the air. Severus took this as a yes and moved toward the cold-charmed cabinet in the corner of the room for a bottle of milk.

Settling into the rocking chair in the corner of the room with milk, babe, and a blanket, Severus began to rock as he fed his son. Tav whimpered around the nipple of his bottle, clearly displeased with his lot in life, so Severus took a page out of Hermione's book and began to hum "I See the Moon" lowly under his breath.

They sat there, the small one breakfasting and the elder staring at the noisy little miracle he'd helped make until the former passed out into what could only be described as a milk coma. Carefully, Severus placed his son back in his crib and crept back to his still-warm bed and sleeping wife.

Except Hermione wasn't sleeping. She was sitting up, staring dreamily into space when he came back into the room.

"You should be resting," Severus said lowly as he slid under the covers.

"I know, but I had to use the loo and then you were singing. I like listening."

He looked at her pale face in the grey light of dawn with some surprise. "You've never said."

She shrugged sheepishly. "I didn't want to make you self-conscious."

"Hm. You probably would have. But I have no objection to singing with you near. So long as I don't have to 'perform'," he finished with a sneer.

This elicited a short bark of a laugh from his wife. "Oh, I think you've performed admirably already, love," she said, running a hand down a slightly distended belly.

Severus snorted in response. "Indeed. The loo...were you sick?"

"Yeah," she said with a little sigh. "This one had better be a bloody angel," she muttered. "Not a day of sickness with Tav, but this one makes me feel like I should take up permanent residence in a vomitorium."

Moving the bed as little as possible, Severus snuggled up to his wife and stroked her abdomen. "And here I thought you couldn't get pregnant while breastfeeding."

"Old wives tale, apparently," Hermione said before groaning, "Fuck!" and dashing into the bath. The sound of retching carried into the bedroom and made Severus grimace in sympathy. He moved to the bed and poured her a glass of fizzy water, then joined her on the floor next to the toilet. He waited for her to finish dry heaving before handing her the water. She rinsed, spat, and then sipped at the beverage as she leaned against the clawfoot tub. "A fucking saint, that's what this one will be," she rasped.

"I have no doubt."

"Happy birthday, by the way," she said with a weak smile. "I'm sorry I can't do it up the way I did last year."

"I'm not," Severus said, bending carefully to lift his wife off the floor. He nuzzled her hair as he carried her back into the bedroom where they could cuddle into the bed until Tav decided to wake again. "This is much better."


End file.
